Part of Question Time — Scottish Executive — Finance and Sustainable Growth – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:15 pm on 14 June 2007.
The cabinet secretary will be aware that the Borders rail link and international connectivity direct to Edinburgh airport are crucial to the economy of the Borders. In the joined-up Government to which he referred, he will have seen the answer to my parliamentary question about the cost of the Edinburgh airport rail link scheme. In that answer, which I received on Tuesday, the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change said that the cost of the scheme was between £550 million and £650 million. Is it the case, as the SNP in the south of Scotland has said, that the scheme will, in fact, cost £1 billion and that, if it goes ahead, no money will be left for the Borders railway? Can the minister confirm that the Borders railway is not subject to the financial review of transport schemes that is under way?